Human Rights

10/10/2013

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nears, philanthropic leaders convened at the Ford Foundation on September 27 to discuss methods for effectively collaborating with the social sector, government, and private sector to ensure their work leads to substantive long-term change. Panelists discussed the significance of transparency and accountability in achieving the MDGs.

The MDGs, created in 2000, consist of eight goals to fight poverty, hunger, and disease, empower women, protect maternal health and children, and ensure environmental sustainability across the globe. Targets include cutting poverty in half, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, and providing universal primary education. Governments have been tasked with setting and implementing the MDGs, but philanthropy plays a significant role in supporting these processes and helping to shape the post-2015 international development agenda spearheaded by the U.N. That effort has yielded the collection of input from 1.5 million people and counting through a program called A Million Voices: The World We Want.

You can read the full article, published on Transparency Talk, by clicking here.

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nears, philanthropic leaders convened at the Ford Foundation on September 27 to discuss methods for effectively collaborating with the social sector, government, and private sector to ensure their work leads to substantive long-term change. Panelists discussed the significance of transparency and accountability in achieving the MDGs. - See more at: http://blog.glasspockets.org/2013/10/keller-20131009.html#sthash.sMorKcxa.vGQFXonn.dpuf

12/07/2012

Corporations have long collected data generated by and/or relevant to their operations –- everything from sales figures, to permit applications, to industry trends and customer behavior. Increasingly, however, regulatory and watchdog groups are demanding that companies provide information about the impact of their activities on society and the environment.

As the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement has gained traction, indices and lists that seek to quantify and rank company activities according to sustainability principles have proliferated. Financial analysts, media groups, and independent consultancies today produce annual assessments of everything from the amount of carbon companies put into the atmosphere to the sustainability of their supply chain management and the diversity of their boards. Those metrics, in turn, are often used by customers, investors, and prospective job candidates to determine their level of engagement with a particular company.

Read the full article on PhilanTopic, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

11/30/2012

Leonida Wanyama sat at her living room table in her mud-and-sticks house at the base of the Lugulu Hills in western Kenya contemplating her assets. Her fifteen-year-old son Gideon had been sent home from boarding school because she couldn't pay the latest tuition bill. Her four-year-old daughter Dorcas was begging for more food, even though the cupboard was bare. Her husband Peter, weak from malaria, a condition worsened by malnutrition, did what he could to feed his family, but the planting season was just beginning and themaize crop wouldn't be ready to harvest for months. Leonida decided to sell her last goat for a thousand shillings -- enough to convince Gideon's principal to take him back as she struggled to come up with the remaining tuition. Food would have to wait.

Click here to read the review of The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change by Roger Thurow. The review is published on PhilanTopic, a Foundation Center blog.

10/10/2012

The most effective way to create change that benefits humans above the bottom line is to combine social change efforts with the profit motive under the umbrella of a multinational corporation.

So writes Timothy J. Mohin in his new book Changing Business From the Inside Out: A Treehugger's Guide to Working in Corporations. And with an eighteen-year career in the field known as corporate responsibility (CR), he provides a wealth of knowledge to back up his claim.

Read the full article on Philanthropy News Digest, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

01/16/2012

On December 2nd, the United Nations (UN) celebrated the 19th annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a tradition started by the General Assembly in 1992. The theme of this year’s event was: Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development.

The day included a discussion of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a human rights treaty establishing international legal standards for governments and international governmental organizations to promote equality in the areas of health, education, international cooperation, gender equality and standard of living.

12/02/2011

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office has suspended 120 New York State workers who serve people with developmental disabilities due to allegations of neglect and abuse of people under their care.

The employees, who work at residential facilities contracted through the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), are being investigated for possible termination and potential criminal charges, according to news reports. Their pay has been suspended pending results of the investigation.

10/17/2011

The United Nations (UN) held its fourth annual conference to discuss the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The CRPD is a human rights treaty establishing international legal standards for governments and international governmental organizations to promote equal rights for people with disabilities. The CRPD addresses issues such as health, gender equality, education, international cooperation and standard of living.

01/15/2011

The United Nations (UN) celebrated people with disabilities December 3 with an annual celebration of speeches, panel discussions and films.

Speakers at the International Day of Persons with Disabilities event included Assistant Secretary-General Thomas Stelzer, Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan of the Philippines, Ambassador Ombeni Y. Sefue of Tanzania and Ambassador Yanerit Morg of Mexico.

06/07/2010

Ospina is a representative for GimpGirl Community, an Internet organization that supports women and girls with disabilities, an English-Spanish translator and a health care reform advocate who has testified at New York City Council hearings. She has attended Hunter College.

Dupree, who is from Alabama, is a long-term health care reform advocate and writer who attended Spring Hill College. Dupree led a two-year campaign called Nick’s Crusade that enabled 25 people in Alabama who are ventilator-dependent to receive home care past the age of 21.

At the commitment ceremony, the couple listened to love poems and live music, read original vows to each other and hosted a discussion on marriage equality to the friends and family members who joined them.

Ospina and friends Nadina LaSpina, Elaine Kolb, Julie Maury and Jessica Delarosa spoke about their opposition to Medicaid rules that discourage couples who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from marrying for fear that their health services will be taken away.